Transit service remained suspended or partly suspended across most of the MTA’s subways and commuter rails Thursday morning — and is not expected to return to normal until the afternoon, officials said, after remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped a devastating amount of rain on New York City late Wednesday.
As many as eighteen trains had to be evacuated after being stranded as rainfall flooded streets, stations and tracks from 9 to 10 p.m., MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.
“The subway system is not a submarine,” Lieber said during an early morning TV appearance on NY1.
“Water gets in when the street-level drainage systems and sewer systems are overwhelmed, and the water starts to come down in the subway system. It’s not impenetrable.”
MTA officials advised New Yorkers to avoid the subway or else take the bus, as crews worked to pump water out of the city’s transit system and assess the damage.
As of 9:20 a.m., service was still out on Metro-North east of the Hudson River and on the 3, E, and W subway lines — and was only running in segments on the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, D, F, M G, N and R lines and the Staten Island Railway, according to real-time updates on the MTA website.
Service was running with delays on the 7, A, B, J, L, and Q lines and the Rockaway shuttle, the MTA said. The Long Island Rail Road had also begun to resume operations. A spokesman said riders should not expect trains to be functioning close to normal until “mid-afternoon.”
The storm surge appeared to have caught transit officials off-guard, forcing partial or complete transit closures across the city.
At 10:45 p.m., the MTA could only guarantee that the one line — the 7 — was fully operational.
“The 7 line is operational and some lines are still running limited shuttles, but please don’t travel,” Chief Customer Officer Sarah Meyer tweeted at 10:40 p.m. on Wednesday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who controls the MTA, issued an emergency declaration at 1:40 a.m.
“I am directing State agencies, including the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, the Department of Transportation, Thruway Authority, and others to take appropriate and immediate action to help respond and recover from this disaster,” the governor said in a statement.
